Why remote work can make you vulnerable

Remote work is a great alternative to office work. Moreover, over 50% of workers in the United States work remotely these days. Working in this way can be extremely beneficial for both workers and employers but, as a business owner, you should be careful to take care of your cyber security and protect your working data effectively.

Remote work doesn’t restrict you in any way and you can hire the best labor force regardless of their locations and borders. Thanks to HR software development services and the latest technology, you can easily manage your workflow and delegate tasks. Remote work also allows you to save money on office rent and many other things.

However, online work can easily disclose your data to third parties you may know only virtually. For that reason, both employers and employees bear equal responsibility for ensuring the safety of the business. Business security can only be achieved if the business owner ensures that all employees are aware of cybersecurity risks and how to avoid and protect against these.

How can you protect your remote work data effectively though? Here are the main and most efficient ways to do that.

1. Educate your employees

Most workers do not realize that the cybersecurity of a business involves the protection of business data against third party access. This is a priority, and everyone bears responsibility for its implementation. Unfortunately, protection working from home data from third party access isn’t taken seriously by many remote workers.

You should teach your employees what they need to do to remain cybersecure. Such recommendations including, for example, not opening spam emails or messages, or clicking suspicious links, may seem simple and banal but this can protect you against hacks and reduce the risks of inadvertently disclosing information.

One simple method business owners can use is to ask all employees to sign a privacy policy document. This is a sort of agreement that states everything regarding the business’ cybersecurity, protection of data, and how data should be processed and transferred. Sounds too obvious? Maybe, but this method can be very effective.

When you explain something orally, people may not pay much attention to or remember it, especially when they are remote workers as they hardly think of your safety. When asked to sign an official document, they are likely to change their attitude and think twice before breaking the rules, even if working remotely. If you think long-term, investing in educating your remote workers is crucial for your business.

2. Use two-step authentication

Stealing passwords online isn’t a big deal for cybercriminals. Doing it is not difficult and these fraudsters can do it in a variety of ways. The first thing you should do to avoid this is to use unique and complicated passwords. Use different passwords for each important service to keep your remote workplaces secure.

The latest technologies are helpful here as password managers provide a good balance of security and convenience. They generate passwords randomly and automatically, yet you can log in to all your devices with one click. It’s crucial to generate passwords not only for yourself but for each of your workers. Remember that many people in your company have access to important information and, if just one of them is not careful, the whole business may be threatened.

The second thing you should do is ensure that 2SA (two-step authentication) is used by every worker, including the business owner. This will ensure an extra security layer. The first security layer is your login and password, while the second is a unique code generated by an app on your phone every 30 seconds. Even if a hacker steals your login details, accessing your data is impossible because the second step cannot be completed since they do not have access to your phone.

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3. Use secure internet connections only

When thinking about how keep your remote information safe, you should not forget about using secure internet connections. Of course, you do not control the Internet provider. However, tools like a VPN (virtual private network) will help keep your data protected 24/7.

If your company is quite big and you have more than five employees, it is reasonable to purchase a corporate VPN account. This way, you can grant access to it to every remote worker. A VPN doesn’t simply hide an IP address but protects all of your data from attacks and leaks. It is especially required when using public WiFi.

4. Purchase corporate email addresses

A corporate email address is not just a business card of your brand. It is an efficient way to protect your business and ensure its security. Having corporate emails is crucial even when you do not have a big team.

You should provide each of your employees with your branded email address and give them login and passwords. Strictly forbid using this email address or synchronizing it with their personal emails. You can even write this into the Privacy Policy agreement and ask your workers to sign it.

It is not good for employees to use their private emails to send your business letters, as this increases the possibility of disclosing your information to third parties. Private emails addresses should be for personal use only, while corporate emails should be used only for business needs and correspondence. Working this way, and ensuring your employees do to, will avoid problems in the future.

Of course, you cannot control whether your workers somehow use a corporate email for their personal needs. But you can have login details of each email and write this into your agreement. People will hardly want to send their personal emails from your account knowing that you can log in to them anytime.

The bottom line: Your security is in your hands only

If you wonder how to secure data when working remotely or having remote employees, you should realize that the responsibility for it lies on you only. As a business owner, you should expect your workers to take care of the safety of your business, especially if they do not work in your office but online.

Invest in educating your team, explaining why protecting their internet data is crucial for your business, and let them know how to do that. Purchase corporate email addresses and VPNs. Make your workers sign privacy policy letters before they start working. All these simple steps should be taken by the business owner - they are not time or cost-consuming, yet very effective and rewarding.

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